Prevalence of HIV infection and sexual practices among long distance truck drivers
Abstract
Objective: To analyze the prevalence of Human immunodeficiency virus infection and sexual practices of truck drivers who travel through a capital of the Northeast of Brazil.
Methodology: Cross-sectional study carried out from May to September 2013 with 384 truck drivers. Data were collected through application of forms and a rapid test with blood collection for detection of viral antibodies.
Results: It was observed that 100% of respondents were male, 57.5% had age between 31 and 50 years, 69% were married or had a stable relationship and 58.6% were living in the Northeast. The identified risk factors were: low education (50%); alcohol use (69.5%); multiple sexual partners (50.3%); lack of use or sporadic use of condoms (56.3%). The HIV prevalence detected among truck drivers was 0.8%.
Conclusion: The risk factors present among truckers indicate vulnerability to HIV infection by exposing to contamination, as well as contributing to spread of the virus in the general population.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access and Benefits of Publishing Open Access).
